The West African Fair Fruit Company (WAFF) is expanding the reach of extension services in cocoa growing communities through a public-private partnership initiative with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).The organization has been training cocoa extension officers and agents from parts of the country, as part of its commitment in delivering the UTZ certification programme in Ghana.WAFF is a not-for-profit organization specializing in the promotion of responsible production and trade in fruits, cocoa and other commodities.The company is currently working with smallholder farmers in the Ahafo Ano North and South districts of Ashanti to produce for the international market under the UTZ certification brand.Cocoa Projects Coordinator, Vincent Frimpong Manu told Luv Biz Report that Ghana can take advantage of the high demand for certified cocoa on the international market, through the promotion of voluntary standards.He believes the public-private partnership is critical to expand agric extension services to support farmers improve yields and incomes.According to him “we need extension service which provides current information and proper ways of doing things on the cocoa farm and how farmers will adopt good agricultural practices, how they can have access to inputs…If we want our productivity in the cocoa sector to improve, then we need as a private sector to forge or combine efforts with the public sector”.The workshop in Kumasi provided the extension agents practical guidance in establishing internal control systems, successfully implement voluntary standards and lead the transfer of skills and knowledge to cocoa farmers.One of participants, Solomon Koomson, who is the Central Regional Coordinator in Charge of Extension, said the increase in Ghana’s cocoa production can partly be attributed to the role of the extension services.“Research is being conducted every now and then, we’ve learnt new things; we’ve acquired new skills. We go ahead and accept whatever they [farmers] have done, then the knowledge that we’ve also acquired, we try to send it in a way that it equally acceptable to them…so that beans that is coming from Ghana will still have the premium quality as it is being accepted in the world market”, he stated.Meanwhile, Mr. Frimpong Manu said the UTZ Certification programme is doing very well in the first year of the project’s four-year cycle, with farmers recording 20-40% increase in yield.“If you like it or not, it is becoming a new phenomenon; consumers are demanding certified cocoa and a lot of countries producing cocoa are grabbing the opportunities therein and once they are doing that, Ghana should also get its market share” he said.Ghana is targeting a cocoa production figure of one million metric tonnes within the next two years.Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana